Just Label It News Roundup 7-27

A recent poll released by Just Label It determined Americans are more familiar with the word “GMO” than “bioengineered,” which the Department of Agriculture proposed for its disclosure rule. In a victory for environmental campaigners, Europe’s highest court said that crops created by “mutagenesis,” or gene editing, should fall under laws restricting the use of genetically modified organisms. In Ireland, the cabinet has agreed to enable Ireland to prohibit or restrict the cultivation of genetically modified organisms. If successful, a court case against Monsanto this week could open the door for – or discourage – roughly 4,000 similar lawsuits against the company. There are lingering doubts in Europe over whether glyphosate, the world’s most ubiquitous herbicide, causes cancer in humans. The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would provide up to $12 billion in emergency relief for farmers hurt by the president’s trade war, moving to blunt the financial damage to American agriculture and the political fallout for Republicans as the consequences of President Trump’s protectionist policies roll through the economy.

Americans more familiar with ‘GMO’ labelPolling conducted on behalf of the Just Label It campaign found that while many Americans remain uncertain about the term “bioengineered food,” nearly three out of four are familiar with term “genetically modified food.” The polling comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture finalizes a rule implementing a 2016 mandatory genetically modified organism (GMO) disclosure law.

In a victory for environmental campaigners, Europe’s highest court said today that crops created by “mutagenesis,” or gene editing, should fall under laws restricting the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto Company is considered a “bellwether” case. If Johnson is successful, it could open the door for roughly 4,000 other similar lawsuits against Monsanto. Conversely, if he loses, it could discourage the other cases.

Lingering doubts in Europe over whether glyphosate, the world’s most ubiquitous herbicide, causes cancer in humans are in no small part due to the efforts of one man: Christopher Portier. Since 2015, food safety agencies across the globe from the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. to the Australian Pesticides Authority have concluded that glyphosate — whose license for use in the EU was narrowly approved last year — does not cause cancer in humans.

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would provide up to $12 billion in emergency relief for farmers hurt by the president’s trade war, moving to blunt the financial damage to American agriculture and the political fallout for Republicans as the consequences of President Trump’s protectionist policies roll through the economy.

Slick industry PR campaigns about antibiotics in food are muddying the water around a serious public health risk, say critics. Pharmaceutical and meat companies are using similar tactics to the cigarette industry, in an attempt to confuse consumers and hold off regulation, despite the fact that the rapidly growing risk of anti-microbial resistance is one of the biggest health risks of our time. It’s estimated that by 2050 10 million people might die a year because we have overused antibiotics.

The study, published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found no significant link between dairy fats and cause of death or, more specifically, heart disease and stroke — two of the country’s biggest killers often associated with a diet high in saturated fat. In fact, certain types of dairy fat may help guard against having a severe stroke, the researchers reported.

“Our data suggest that the average person in the United States wastes about a pound of food per day,” said the University of Vermont’s Meredith Niles, one of the study’s authors, along with researchers at the Department of Agriculture and the University of New Hampshire.